Training Plans Specifically Designed to Help You Conquer the Boston Marathon Course

Get the customization and support you need to take your training to the next level and conquer the uphills and downhills of the Boston course

If you're racing Boston with the goal of recording a PR or running your best time, knowing how to target your training specifically to the demands of the course is essential. You need to prepare your legs for the demanding hills, develop your patience for the early miles, and prepare for the quad-pounding downhill finish.

Based on your training, current fitness and previous race results, we will analyze your specific strengths and weaknesses to develop a strategy to help you run your best race in April

We've helped over 500 runners train for the Boston Marathon in the last 2 years alone. Here's how we can help you too!

Here's how we can help you train for the Boston Marathon

Pain: You need a personalized training schedule, not another basic plan written for anyone

You struggle to find a training schedule uniquely created for your strengths and weaknesses. Simply following a plan not personalized to you in any way isn't going to help you gain that extra 5%. You need a personalized, constantly adapting plan that pushes you when you need, prevents over training and helps you take your races to the next level.

Solution

Your training schedule is custom created and meticulously written just for you. We take data from your previous training data, current PRs, best training days and develop a personalized training schedule that is uniquely suited for your work/life schedule, strengths and weaknesses to ensure you get the most of your running. No more wondering how to tweak your schedule to you!

Features

This is not a template plan. Your schedule is uniquely crafted to your strengths and weaknesses

Access to our expert team of coaches to tweak your training to make it even more personalized and answer your questions as you go

Pain: Struggle with how, when, and what strength training to include in your plan

You know the "little things" like strength training and cross training are what will ultimately allow you to shave off those last few minutes and reach your potential. But, you're also aware that it's easy to go overboard. You need critical elements like strength training built directly into your plan to maximize your results, but you're confused about how to add them, what days to include strength work, and which routines are optimal.

Solution

Your training integrates strength work into your schedule - not just throws it on top. You'll know exactly what you need to do each day of the week. Moreover, the strength work is progressive (building you up and not remaining static) and targeted to your specific race distance.

Features

Strength training routines built directly into your training

Progressive routines that are specific to your race distance and goals

Pain: You struggle to find the time to fit all your training in

Finding time to fit everything in when you're striving to reach your potential can seem impossible. You're trying to balance work, family, training and your kids and it usually ends up with you tired, overtrained, disheartened with training and with lack luster results. You need a schedule fits around your life, not the other way around

Solution

RunnersConnect helps you make fitting training into your schedule easier and more enjoyable. You choose which days you want to run, which days you want off and we design workouts to fit your schedule. Our training platform also includes robust tools, like Garmin import and export, that make remembering and logging your training a breeze.

Features

A schedule that fits your ideal training days, rest days and your schedule

A flexible plan that is easily adapted to setbacks and changes in your routine

Pain: Injuries and overtaining derail your training

Injuries and overtraining lead to inconsistent training and constant self-doubt about whether you're doing too much or too little. You struggle to find the right balance to know when do you back off, what injury-prevention work you should be doing (and when), and how to stay healthy consistently.

Solution

Your RunnersConnect schedule is personalized to your experience level, training history and injury history to balance getting in the workouts that will help you reach your goal and recovery to stay injury-free. Moreover, injury prevention, strength work, and cross training are built into your plan.

Features

Injury prevention work built into your plan

Personalized plan that takes into account your training and injury history

Plan adapts based on your logged workouts to ensure workout paces are always right for you

You may know most running terminology, but what does it really mean for you? More specifically, how does it help you get from point A to point B and why are you doing that specific workout now? These questions don't instil confidence in a plan and you need to believe in and trust your training.

Solution

At RunnersConnect, each one of your workouts comes with a specific explanation of why you're doing that session and an in-depth article on how to execute should you have any questions. This helps you understand how every run fits together and instills belief and confidence in your training.

Features

Training timeline to help you visualize your progress and understand the holistic development of your plan

Easy to understand and in-depth workout explanations for every run on your schedule

Learn from your fellow teammates and your expert team of coaches in weekly live coach chats and by following the forums and activity stream

"Needed to drop 4 minutes to qualify for Boston...PR'd by 10 minutes"

The Runner:

Previous PR's

Peter's Problems:

Peter was running his recovery runs too fast, which meant that he was not recovering properly and not rested enough for his scheduled hard sessions. This made it difficult to run faster workouts.

The workouts Peter was doing were not marathon specific. He relied too heavily on slow long runs and shorter speed sessions. Neither of these workouts specifically targeted Peter's weaknesses or the specific marathon fitness he needed to develop.

Peter has a busy and often hectic schedule. He not only owned his own business, which requires him to be on his feet most of the day, but he also teaches at a local University. It was important that his schedule factor these outside influences to be most effective.

Peter lacked the confidence to attack his workouts and perform training runs that he was capable of doing. Often, he would talk himself out of a workout before it even began.

How RunnersConnect Helped Him:

First, we worked very hard to slow Peter down on his easy runs. While this is never an easy task for any runner we work with, by giving him direct paces to follow and continually expounding on the benefits of slowing down, we were able to get the most out of each run and workout he did.

Peter's workouts became much more marathon specific. Every mile he ran was specifically designed to elicit a certain physiological benefit. We implemented threshold intervals, long runs that increased fuel efficiency, and shorter speed elements that helped him improve his form and mechanics.

By implementing a progressive schedule and using detailed race strategies, we were able to give Peter the confidence he needed to run the paces and times during workouts and races we knew he was capable of. Once he trusted that his assigned paces were doable, he gained the confidence to attack each race and workout.

Peter's Results:

After only 5 months working together, Peter qualified for the 2011 Boston Marathon. His new personal best's are now:

Half Marathon - 1:36:46

Marathon - 3:28:40

With the qualifying time a distant memory, Peter is excited about training for the Boston Marathon and making his race a memorable experience and another big PR.

25 minute PR to get under new Boston Qualifying standards

The Runner:

Name: Eric Nordquist

Age: 37

Hometown: Connecticut

Previous PR's

Marathon: 3:30

Eric's Problems:

"I put in 18 weeks of training, using the advanced 1 program suggested by Hal Higdon. �I had aspirations to go 3:15 and qualify for Boston based on my shorter distance times...I finished at 3:30. �With the exception of a few weeks off the tracks - I followed Hal's program as he suggested, but still fell of pace very hard at mile 18. Now, Boston qualifying got even faster and I need to figure out a way to get the most out of myself"

Lack of consistency

Eric struggled to stay consistent with his training thanks to a busy job and losing motivation when the goal was a long way away. His focus would peak 14-16 weeks out from the marathon but between those marathons his training was sporadic and resulted in him starting from scratch every marathon segment.

Focusing on the wrong type of workouts

Eric followed the Hal Higdeon marathon plan, which follows a traditional old-school training structure: One VO2max or speed session early in the week, a tempo session the second half of the week, a fast run on Saturday and a long run on Sunday. As such, Eric was missing the both the concept of periodization and race-specific training.

Understanding the purpose of workouts

Eric was still a relatively new runner and he didn't fully grasp the purpose of every session he was running, which lead to three issues: (1) he would sometimes run too fast (believing faster is better) and miss the mark on the purpose of the session; (2) when adjusting his schedule he didn't prioritize the workouts correctly; and (3) he wasn't fully confident in his plan and always felt like he needed to add more or run faster.

How RunnersConnect Helped Him:

First, the coaching staff and the community of fellow runners helped keep Eric motivated and on track when the next marathon was months away. Having current Boston qualifiers and runners trying to qualify with him helped Eric stay accountable and provided that extra nudge when he didn't want to get out the door.

We immediately began to work on the race-specific demands of the marathon in Eric's final 12 weeks of training. This included a heaping of aerobic threshold runs to get his body burning fat as a fuel source at marathon pace and implemented long runs with either fast finish or surge elements to increase fatigue resistance.

Our coaching staff helped Eric prioritize his workouts and ensure that he didn't overtrain by trying to squeeze everything in when a late night at the office resulted in a missed run. His fellow teammates and coaches also helped him stick to the pace instructions on each workout by reminding him of the purpose of each session and sharing bad experiences to convince him when he wanted to run faster.

Eric's Results:

3:04:59 and a Boston qualifier! Eric will be running the 2015 Boston Marathon!!

Personalized workouts result in a 9-minute PR

The Runner:

Name: Rich Heinzeman

Age: 38

Hometown: Orlando, FL

Previous PR's

Marathon - 3:15

Rich's Problems:

Needed personalized workouts

Rich was following the training of another runner who was about his ability level and basically replicating their workouts. While this certainly helped get Rich 90% of the way towards his goal the lack of specificity to his strengths and weaknesses compared to his training partner prevented him from reaching that next level.

Needed to develop the speed to run under 3:10

Specifically, Rich's weakness was that he didn't have the speed (lacked the efficiency and economy) to get under 3:10. He was coming off a long period of marathon training where he neglected improving his running economy and efficiency. While his aerobic system was where it needed to be, Rich needed to work in more speed development to improve his neuromuscular system.

Needed to increase volume and training paces gradually

Because Rich needed to take a big step up in his training to reach the qualifying mark, it was important he do it gradually. Rich's original plan was an all-or-nothing approach, Instead of listening to how his body was responding to training and increasing pace or volume only when it was ready, Rich was constantly pushing his easy run pace and long run volumes, which was leading to stagnant progress.

How RunnersConnect Helped Him:

Our first step with Rich was starting him on a speed development segment. We assessed his previous race and workout times and knew he needed a 4-6 week speed development phase before he began working towards his spring marathon. This allowed Rich to improve his running economy and efficiency. (In layman's terms, this meant Rich could now run farther with less effort and while expending less energy, which conserves precious carbohydrates).

Once Rich was 12 weeks out from his goal marathon (the Martian marathon in Michigan) we began focusing back on the long runs and aerobic threshold work. We gradually increased his mileage and total amount of volume he performed during workout sessions. The result is that we were able to perform 3 times as many marathon paced miles (up to 12% from 4% of weekly mileage) compared to his previous marathon training segments.

Rich's Results:

Despite the Martian marathon needing to reroute the course due to flooding concerns and high winds, Rich was able to run 3:06:21 and qualify for Boston!

"From First Race Ever to Local Elite"

The Runner:

Previous PR's

Richard's Problems:

Richard had a very limited training background and had never trained in a somewhat structured running environment.

Richard was piecing together workouts and information gathered from Runners World, books, and other sources with no long term planning concerning the development of his training.

With limited racing experience, Richard didn't know how to race effectively and maximize his fitness on race day.

Richard lacked the confidence and had a hard time motivating himself to do the harder workouts necessary to improve his race times.

How RunnersConnect Helped Him:

First, with the help of Richard, we created a long-term plan to start targeting the goals Richard wanted to hit over the next few months and for the following year. We went back and analyzed the long term plan every few months to make sure we were still on target. For the most part, we were always ahead of target and adjusted his goals based on his increasing level of fitness.

With a long term plan in hand, we detailed Richard's training schedule using three week blocks. This detailed plan assigned each run with a specific purpose, which was explained to Richard so he could see and understand the direction of his training.

Richard and his coach worked extensively on practicing and developing the racing skills necessary to race to his best each time out. To do this, his coach assigned him specific workouts, such as cut down runs and hammers, each week that were designed to practice these skills.

Our awesome community and the friends Richard made on the site help hold him accountable for his workouts and kept him motivated and confident that he was moving in the right direction.

The process of developing his racing skills is a long and ongoing process, which took lot of practice and patience on Richard's part. However, he has improved his pacing skills considerable, which has allowed him to run a more tactically efficient race. The results of his practice are evident in his racing times.

With the great success he's had over the last few months, Richard is excited to attack each workout on his schedule and now views the tough workouts as a challenge instead of something that he doesn't think he can do. As a coach, it is a phenomenal feeling to watch an athlete develop that type of confidence.

You've Got Nothing To Lose But Time Off Your PR's!

You will run faster and enjoy your training more.

Guaranteed or you money back!

We're committed to helping you become the best runner you can be and making training for your next race a social, fun, and exciting endeavor. Out team will work tirelessly to keep making improvements, adding new features, and supporting you with an all-star coaching staff.

However, should you ever feel that we are not providing you with everything you hoped and more, we will gladly refund your last payment in full (monthly memberships only). No Fine Print.

All you need to do is send an email to our Head Coach and we'll take care of it for you. Don't you wish race registrations had a guarantee like this?

No risk, no excuses; take your running to the next level and change what you thought was possible!